A review of the Goat Island Skiff from Mike McNamara of McNamara Sails UK

Ralph Gersson in the Netherlands got a very nice mail from Michael McNamara from mcNamara sails UK. He made a nice sail for Richard Harvey’s GIS “Blanche” and Ralph has decided to order for his own Goat Island Skiff.

Goat Island Skiff in Norfolk, UK

Here is what Mike McNamara wrote to Ralf.

I had a nice long sail in Richard`s Goat Island Skiff today and had a lovely sail.

He has made a great job of the boat and it went like a dream.

I was very impressed with how simple the controls were and how quickly the boat went. It was also beautifully balanced.

As you could expect the boat felt better when it was slightly heeled when beating. Off wind it felt fast but didn’t create a planning sort of wash…it just went faster and faster.

When tacking I found that I had to be quite forceful in pushing it into the wind and it was definitely better to “roll” it coming out of the tack.

I’m glad that I did have a sail because I found that I need to modify the sail slightly to give more fullness at the head. The gaff bent more than I had anticipated.

I will now get started on your sail and be in touch soon. Hope that is ok.

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On the "round Australia trip" I found myself employed by a tiny business in Adelaide - Duck Flat Wooden Boats in Adelaide.
It was an eye opener - It became clear that one could build a boat for a fraction of the cost of current racing boats.
My ideas hinged around high performance, easy building, fun to sail and reasonably cheap
Today Storer Boats are built in all countries and we have active groups on Facebook for the following groups
Goat Island Skiff
Open Goose
Storer Boat plans
Really Simple Sails

Hi Dave,
You have to remember that I make my income by working out these sizes and shapes and explaining them nicely.

I think I do a good job so should be paid for my effort.

I can’t prevent your individual creativity in working out the sizes yourself.

Instead of buying the goat plan at 100 dollars, you could buy the OzRacer plan for 20 and ask for the free lug rig supplement. It is a smaller sail at 89 square feet and a different geometry, but it is a cheap path to get a lot of information.

I have gotten into it from the back before in deep water. You may want to add a step. Also it is remarkably stable. I would not board it from the side though.

Enrico Franconi has a video of sailing between islands and snorkeling from the goat.

Here is Enrico's video. He has camping gear in his boat and food and water so it is a lot more stable than when empty. So he can jump over the side. He has a superlight folding ladder he made for the transom.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kavwTqTnoZo

How much time do you folks who have completed your goats think you have in your builds? I'm guessing 250 to 500 hours depending on skill level and degree of, um, ornamentation. I'm planning to start this fall and budget about 10 hours a week. ... See MoreSee Less

Mine took about 300h, or two and a half years, depending on how you count...

I say you can do less if you're efficient. Or you could make it in record time by buying mine, for sale in Provincetown!

I spent about 300 hours spread over 3 years. I had no idea what I was doing and no experience either building boats or general woodworking. I could probably shave some time off if I built another.

I think mine took three and a half months working nights and weekends.

6 months calendar time using a Clint Chase kit.

I'm sorry the blizzard conditions prevented our get-together last winter. I look forward to following your progress building your Goat.

I have been keeping a log of build times and my numbers are a bit higher. Starting with a Clinton B Chase kit, it took me right at 100 hours to build the rudder, centerboard and 5 spars for the yawl rig. All are glassed and/or coated and ready for light sanding then varnish. On the boat itself, I went 3D at 53 hours. I am currently at 205 hours total with the bottom on, C/B case installed and working on the mast step/partner. This total includes an extra 25 hours for the strip construction seats. My guess is that I will be at 300 when I complete construction and ready for paint/varnish. I am building the yawl rig which no doubt adds some time.

Thanks for the replies all! I'm using oukoume plywood and locally sourcing the rest of the lumber. Spars to be Finn Forest Spruce LVL, birds mouthed, round. Grown red oak knees. Can't wait to get started!

It took me 11 months working diligently part time...say 20 hrs per/wk average. If my math is correct that's somewhere around 880 hours. I added a few extra fancy bits which added more time but most people seem to add something. I am also an admitted detail guy and probably spent more time than most on making sure everything was just the way I wanted it.

I kept accurate track of time on my blog. Each post has an hour log at the end. It added up to 440 hours but it was my first boat and I went for a high level of finish. I'd estimate that at least 1/3 of the time was due to the fit and finish I wanted to achieve. Fancy details add to the time exponentially. Something like surface mounting oarlocks might take a few minutes to drill 3 holes and insert two screws turns into hours when you set up to route pockets in the gunwale for flush mounting.

8 months, with 5 of those at 12-15 hours a week, and the other 3 at 20-25 hours a week. 600 hours or so.

I'm two months in and the hull is shaped and epoxied. I've been devoting most of my free time to this thing, with weeks of reading blogs and doing research beforehand. Epoxy coating/varnishing/painting takes forever, so I've still got a long road ahead of me, not counting the mast, daggerboard, rudder, spars and all that that I will do this winter. I just wanna throw it in the water and see it float.

In general, building from a kit saves about 25% time. FWIW.

Regarding calendar time (vs hours worked): a big problem for me was not having a heated workspace. I was working in an unheated, uninsulated, detached garage. So I was shut down for about 5 months each year when it was too cold for the epoxy. Since you are in MA, try to make sure you have heat.

But don't hang around in a warmed epoxy fumed space yourself.
All the methods in the plan are about dry assemble a heap of stuff and then do the epoxy process.
Then it's time to get out of the enclosed space.
In South Australia there's a long build season but the few Winter months are pretty bad for epoxy work.
The three worst cases of sensitisation were men, a bit older, working in heated enclosed spaces which they hung around inside

Paul Swanson if you don't want to buy mine, you're still welcome to come
see it if you like- it's very close-right?

Pictures would probably help, does it have a trailer, who made the rig, what fittings Harken/ronstan/etc What cordage dymeena, hemp etc.

It's hard to say what the market will bear. Your boat might be "worth" $5-7 thousand. Not many will pay that for a row boat with a sail. Even at a couple of thou, you may be competing with used Lasers. It all depends what else is available and how "boat savvy" prospective buyers are.
(Sorry for not being helpful at all...)

We have had a reasonable success rate at finding new owners for boats. So put together the details you will need for an advertisement and post here.

it has Dynema sheets and halyard. it has a custom wood trailer. the sail was made by really simple sails. the mast is a hollow birdsmouth spar. the lug and boom are both solid.the fitting are kind of cobbled together, but they all work well. i think the pictures on the website will help.

the boat is located in Mojave CA

Your best bet will probably be advertising here as there will be people interested in a GIS rather than hoping to get a random sale.

I just paid $2k for a boat from Tenn it was in new shape build was a B+ (some drips etc) had a new light weight trailer. I feel I got a great deal considering what material alone would cost. I would start at 3k plus if the build was quality etc

Glad to get back to building after 1 1/2 month break. The Admiral wanted a bathroom remodel and wood flooring in the master bedroom, and you know the old saying. If she isn't happy........ Thankfully that is all done and I have been authorized to return to boat building.

Spent the last few days doing the final sanding, glassing and coating the spars. I am very pleased with how they came out. The mast is birdsmouth and all the others are solid, build from Clinton B Chase kit. "Tipping" the epoxy with a foam brush resulted in a surface that will take very little sanding before varnish. I am planning to use Epifanes Rapidcoat to darken and even out the color just a bit.

For those of you who care about such things:mast - 21#/9.5kgboom - 7#/3.2kgyard - 5.4#/2.4kgmizzen - 5#/2.3kgsprit boom - 0.6#/0.3kg

Next on my dance card is the main mast partner then tank tops. ... See MoreSee Less